MENTAL DISORDERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22981, 8 March 1938, Page 4

MENTAL DISORDERS

MODERN TREATMENT ATTITUDE TOWARD PATIENTS WOMAN PSYCHIATRIST'S VIEWS An eminent woman psychiatrist from the United States, Dr. Anita M. Muhl, who is on her way home to California after a leisurely holiday in Europe, India and Australia, passed through Auckland yesterday by the Mariposa. Dr. Muhl, who took her M.D. degree at the Indiana University and her Ph.D. degree at the Washington University, is now practising privately in her native State of California, but for some years she was attached to the psychiatric division of the United States Government Service, first on the staff of St. Elizabeth's, the huge Government mental hospital in Washington, and later in charge of a mental clinic in the same city. "The aura of mystery, silence, awe and horror that used to surround anything that might bo construed as the slightest deviation from the normal mentality is now fast disappearing," said Dr. Muhl. "The mind can be affected by so many things and to so many degrees. What people most require and what is most lacking in the world to-day is understanding." The employment of physical restriction, narcotics and fast bonds in the treatment of mental enses was regarded by modern doctors as both unnecessary apd harmful, said Dr. Muhl, who described the modern methods in use at St. Elizabeth's in Washington and the growing appreciation of occupational therapy as efficient treatment. "People to-day consult a psychiatrist as they do their doctors, and parents often seek advice upon the education of their children," said Dr. Muhl, who commented on the changing attitude toward mental disorders. People were beginning to realise ihe dangers of emotional and nervous strain in their everyday lives and were ready to seek help in counteracting the effects of that strain. Some professions or occupations imposed a rigid mental strain, which could bo lightened only by some scientifically prescribed relaxation. An unavoidable outcome to the modern attitude to mental disorders was, of course, a large crop of neurotics, who, in order to excuse some weakness or la.siness, or merely to gain sympathy or effect, developed or encouraged some romantic complex.